Focus on health, the weight loss will follow

Lose weight – just do it

That’s what I was told a few years back when I went to a large sports facility on a ”Sports day” at work and had my body fat percentage taken by real professionals. I sat there with the trainer with a diagram in my hand, looking at a horrible body fat percentage: 43 %.

His words stopped me. He didn’t sound worried or anxious, just really calm and as if it was no big deal to lose weight and lower fat percent. ”Just do it. Don’t think too much about it – take care of it once and for all and you’ll be done with it.”

Those words still have the same effect on me today. Is it really that simple? Do we over-complicate weight loss?

Losing weight is simple when you think about it:

All we have to do is make right food choices and if possible be a bit more active than before.

The problem is that after the first bout of determination we lose our focus. We start to think about all the obstacles for some reason. Reasons to not do it.

It all comes down to choice, we need to choose success. That’s why it is so important to figure out why we want to lose weight. These reasons to lose weight have to be stronger than the obstacles – if they are not then we have chosen to fail even before we’ve started.

So you have chosen success – then what? Make a plan.

Most people need some kind of a plan. I’ve tried the vague ”I’ll try to make healthier choices in the future and do a bit more exercise” route so many times. That’s not a plan. I can’t say that it has ever worked.

Make a plan and commit to it. And then try something else as well:

Visualize what you want to be.

Take old magazines and cut photos of them with scissors – photos that represent what you want to be. It can be anything (both weight loss related and other areas of life too) and as tangible or abstract as you wish. This is your visualization. Glue these pictures on paper and you’ll have built yourself a motivational board for weight loss. Put this board somewhere where you can see it daily. Take a look at it in the morning and in the evening before going to bed.

If you’re not the scissors-and-glue type of person then you can do this by writing down words that mean something to you. You can even make a flowchart of this if that’s your sort of thing!

Our minds have a lot of power that we forget to harness.

Nobody can tell you how to lose weight – whether you want to do it quickly by losing a lot of weight at once and then maintain it – or if you want to change your lifestyle and lose it slowly. It is totally up to you. You are in charge.

You might come up with a diet plan of your own or choose a tried and tested one:AtkinsBody for LifeWhole30Primal Blueprint5:2
(I’m only naming here a couple of plans I think can really work – you are obviously free to choose any other plan you wish)

Whatever plan it is you decide, commit to it. Don’t give up.

Every time you give up you will make it harder for yourself to start over. It will take a while to pick up the pieces, build that determination and choose success (step 1) all over again. I’m sure we’ve all been there.

Be kind to yourself. Being kind doesn’t mean letting go of the plan. It is all about caring and looking after oneself.

There’s nothing silly about giving yourself a cuddle if you’re alone or looking yourself in the mirror after a workout and telling how well you’ve done. Be your best friend.

Life ”on a diet” doesn’t have to be boring – make this the time of your life!

Whatever it is you choose and plan to do the most important thing is to make progress. Change something today.

I still have a way to go. I’ve lost 30 pounds (14 kg) so far, I’ve just completed Whole30 and I’m no longer overweight but I still have way too high fat percentage.

I’m extremely grateful for where I am today. I am at this point in my weight loss journey because of the choices I’ve made in the past. Now I just have to make some new choices every day that will determine my future history.

Have you been waiting for the right moment to change your life? How about right now?